Norfolk Gargoyle Thumbnails
Norfolk Gargoyle Thumbnails
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TO VIEW: Gargoyle sites are listed by town or village, then building name, then area. Scroll down or click one of the village / building names to go straight to it, then click on the thumbnail picture or name of the view to see a photograph of it (usually 10-50Kb each, the churches are 70k-120k).
TO SAVE A PICTURE ON YOUR OWN COMPUTER: right click on photo, choose "Save Picture As" or "Save Image As", use the file name shown or change to your own choice (this works in MSWindows, not sure about Macs).
If you know of any gargoyles not mentioned or have any corrections, or recommendations or comments about gargoyles or the web page, please drop me a line at gargoyles@fluffyrabbit.com
Introduction: Norfolk apparently underwent quite a church building frenzy in medieval times, accounting for a plethora of early and late medieval churches, many of broadly similar style (big tower, medium sized main part and a smaller end part. The classic "nice English village church" of fondly remembered sentimental times. Most of the ones I've seen incorporate two, three or four plumbing pipes on the tower to discharge rain water and were presumably, mostly if not all, originally gargoyles, although many of these are now missing or broken. A fair number remain and are in reasonable condition. Some are stunning. This section is an on-going catalogue of those, with mentions of churches I've passed in my travels which don't have gargoyles. I'm sure it'll never include every single church in Norfolk, but I intend keep adding to it for years to come, starting in west and north Norfolk. So, drop in from time to time to see how its going.
List of gargoyle sites, photos and futures
As this list grows, you might want to search for particular villages or saints; for most browsers press control-F then type in the name.
Gargoyle Photos available now:Part 1 - Typical Norfolk churches:
For more available now in other parts of the UK and world, see the UK+World Gargoyles page, this has a list of buildings in the UK, Europe (and US) visited so far and whether they have gargoyles or not, what kind, and pictures when I have time to take and scan them.
Links and books:Three around the tower, the one on the road side is just a long pipe with its stonework missing, but the other two are humanoid with open mouths but carrying long pipes on their backs. The one at the front of the tower is in good condition. The tower also has a standing sculpture on each top corner, which are badly weathered but appear to be lion-like holding shields. Photos Feb 2001 (mostly 500mm lens)
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Four squat gargoyles, all of them face pullers. Two with pipes on the front of the tall tower, two pipeless one on each flank of the church tower, all near the front corners. Photos Feb & Mar 2001 (mostly 500mm lens)
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Three gargoyles, one fairly weathered, one strange being very short with pipe but a discernible face and paws, one very badly weathered or just a stone (it's hard to tell). Photos Apr? 2001 (200mm lens)
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Not actually gargoyles (at least not any more, they may have been once), now just 2 bits of flat guttering shedding water from the tower roof, one on each flank. But it's still plumbing shedding water directly from the roof, which strictly speaking makes them gargoyles, albeit rather dull and undecorated. A stocky looking church with a solid shortish tower, big bland windows, not much used (one service in Feb, one in March 2001) but with an odd little fuel oil fired heating hut on the left hand side, and also curiously no name anywhere. Hillington has obviously seen better times. It was very foggy when the photos were taken, which added to the mystery of the place. Photos Feb 2001 (200mm lens)
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Jump back to the list of Norfolk Churches Gargoyles pages especially for medieval ones. Or see the UK, Europe, USA pages including the stunning Ely Cathedral for loads and loads of old medieval and new ones.
COMING SOONER OR LATER for Norfolk Gargoyles (some need scanning in, some haven't been taken yet)
Blakeney, St. Nicholas, north Norfolk, UK. Fine church with gargoyles and some nice flintwork, very tall looking and imposing 104ft tower. Photos Jul?02
Bunwell, St. Michael & All Saints, east Norfolk. Two gargoyles flanking the tower, both are big very round heads with longish gutter spouts, one of which is either gurning or has hands half held over its mouth. no Photos
Cley-Next-The-Sea, St. Margarets, north Norfolk, UK. No details, only seen it through binoculars so far, but if you like bird watching as well this is the place to be. no Photos
East Winch, All Saints, west Norfolk four, one on each side of tower and all badly weathered, plus two carved heads (one weathered till unrecognisable) either side of front tower entrance. Church is flint, carstone and bricks. It's obviously seen better centuries and has suffered a bit from general entropy, but someone's trying hard to look after it and although it's on a main road and almost surrounded by houses I found it had a calming curiously secluded feel to it. Rookery very near, blue tits and swifts nest in holes in tower. Photos May 2001 (500mm lens)
St ?, Hockering, East Norfolk. Two stubby gargoyles with gutter spouts one either side of the tower. Seen from A47. No photos, Apr2002. no Photos, Apr2002
Holt, St. Andrew the Apostle, north Norfolk, UK. On the tall church tower, one on each of the east and west flanks. Stubby grotesque heads with long-ish mouth pipes still in fairly good condition. (Note: the large church seen by the main road when entering Holt appears to be Victorian and with no gargoyles.) Photos Feb 2001 (200mm lens, poor light)
Honingham (Horningham?), St. Andrew, (off A47 nr Norwich) east Norfolk. One traditional Norfolk stubby gargoyle head with very long gutter spout (presumably one on the other side too). no Photos, Apr2002
Lakenheath, St ?, near south-west border of Norfolk. Photos Jul?2002
Methwold, St George's, fenland of south-west Norfolk. Several gargoyles along the nave. Church was rebuilt in late 14th or early 15th century, tower has an octagonal superstructure carrying the spire reaching up 120ft. The spire is one of only 3 stone ones in Norfolk (the others are Norwich cathedral and Snettisham, also Oxborough until it collapsed in 1948). I'm told there are large angels inside but I didn't get the chance to see. no Photos Jul?02 (too dark)
Middleton, St. Mary's, west Norfolk four, one on each side of tower. Large church, flint and carstone, opposite Crown pub. no Photos
St ?, Necton, mid? Norfolk. Couldn't see from a fast drive by if it has gargoyles, but it does have a strange octagonal? construction thing as a spire on top of the square tower. no photos, Apr2002
Norwich Cathedral, east Norfolk. Well, maybe sometime, but several sites show it, so for now search the web for Norwich +cathedral +gargoyles. no Photos
Pentney nearby, Abbey (Priory on map), west Norfolk four massive heads, one crowned one bear-like two unclear faces. A mile or two(?) west of Pentney itself. Four big outside walls remain of the abbey/priory with some internal walls, fascinating to be able to see some of the internal structure but in bad repair. No Photos (no film)
Pentney, St. Mary Magdalene's Church, west Norfolk four massive heads, one on each side of the tower. No time to look, no details. No Photos (no film)
Snettisham, St. Mary, north Norfolk, UK. Big solid with tall tower. no Photos
Swaffham, St. ?, west Norfolk Spotted some but no more details than that at the moment. no Photos
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RECOMMENDATIONS (People have seen these and contacted me to say they're worth visiting)
Mannington Hall near Saxthorpe & Blickling, not a parish church but never mind, east Norfolk. I'm recommended to try (thanks Raff, I quote:) "...some fine gargoyles which I'm sure you would find interesting. The Hall was built in 1460 but the nearby church for the Hall is ruined and I suspect some of them were incorporated into the Hall stonework much later. It's certainly worth a visit as some fragments of faces and 'bits and pieces' are interesting.". Well, that's got my interest up, I shall go. To make a day of it, I shall also probably pop into fairly nearby (6 miles?) Blickling Hall again and check out the garden sculptures, and maybe indulge in the art gallery and the old bookshop and the neat yew hedge again. I have to admit to good times there, including sudden downpour then stunning rainbow then rain steaming off a thatched cottage roof as the sun heated everything up again. Warms the cockles of your heart to see such sights. Shame about the gargoyles at Blickling, but then it is a bit young, some good if regimented architecture and an impressive yew hedge with a pub nearby, worth going whether before or after Mannington. no Photos
Worstead, east Norfolk, UK. Although the fabric of the church generally is less good than other places there are four absolute beauties on the tower. no Photos
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AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF NORTH NORFOLK CHURCHES There are over 700 churches in norfolk. Ok so this is only North Norfolk but even so the list is totally incomplete, just some I heard of but haven't any info about yet. For me it's a helpful record of the church names.
Aylsham, St. Michael & All ??, north Norfolk, UK. no info. no PhotosTop Index
NO GARGOYLE CHURCHES
Ashwicken (Church Lane), St. ?, west Norfolk, UK. No gargoyles, although seems right age.|
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